[mythtv-users] Programming remote button bindings (WAS: What major features are planned for 0.27?)

[Joey Morris]

Christopher Kerr <mythtv at theseekerr.com> wrote on Wed, Dec 05, 2012 at 12:16:12PM +1100:
> On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 11:29 AM, Joey Morris <rjmorris at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> > Christopher Kerr <mythtv at theseekerr.com> wrote on Wed, Dec 05, 2012 at
> > 11:02:48AM +1100:
> > > On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 10:37 AM, Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> says:
> > > > > No, Watch Recordings used the INFO to show info (and *context* menu)
> > on
> > > > > the selected recording.  It was changed because many people whined
> > that
> > > > > "Any sane user interface doesn't need 2 menus," so now we have 2
> > menus
> > > > > and an impossible to describe user interface ("Hit MENU, and if you
> > > > > don't see <whatever>, hit MENU, again...").
> > > >
> > > > How is this harder to use, or describe, than telling people they have
> > > > to bind two separate buttons and remember what functions appear in
> > > > which menu? Besides, you and I both know that the Watch Recordings
> > > > menu is context-sensitive and will almost always do the right thing.
> > > >
> > > > > Again, INFO was always for information/context menu and MENU was for
> > > > > "main" menu (i.e. like the one you'd have at the top of the
> > > > > application, versus the right-click/context menu).
> > > > >
> > > > > What Mike says is 100% accurate (and not the revisionist history of
> > > > > those who complained until MENU got changed).
> > > >
> > > > Please spare us the patented Michael T. Dean passive aggressiveness.
> > > >
> > > > No, it makes no sense, in an environment with relatively limited
> > > > buttonspace (I have a programmable remote with softkeys, but most
> > > > don't), to have two menus that are completely separate and require two
> > > > different buttons. You were wrong when mythtv-users had this debate
> > > > after 0.22 was released. More importantly, other developers disagreed
> > > > with you; otherwise the change would never have occurred.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Well, as a user, with no affiliation with the developers: I liked it
> > better
> > > before, too. MTD's analogy between application menus and right click
> > menus
> > > is right on the money - changing the way the interface works does NOT
> > > belong in the same context as altering the details of a specific
> > > recording/video.
> > >
> > > If you use a remote with too few buttons, that's your problem - I'd
> > rather
> > > that you and others didn't ruin my experience to solve your own issues.
> > The
> > > interface was logical, now it isn't.
> >
> > I don't understand the problem with the current interface in Watch
> > Recordings. With a recording selected, INFO gives me the recording's
> > details. With a recording selected, MENU gives me the context menu for
> > that recording. With a group selected, MENU gives me a menu of mostly
> > group-related items. How is this illogical?
> >
> 
> Because I don't think of that list as being "groups" - I have it configured
> to only display All Programs and program names, not recording groups or
> anything else. As such, moving over to the "Series List" panel to change
> group options makes no damn sense to me at all, nor any of the other users
> in the house.

I have mine set up the same way...just All Programs and series names.
I agree that it's inconvenient sometimes to move over to the "Series
List" to access that menu, but I still don't buy your argument for it
making no sense. Since you consider the Group List the "Series List",
then I'm assuming you also consider the Group Menu the "Series Menu".
Moving your cursor to the Series List to access the Series Menu makes
a lot of sense to me.

For someone like me who didn't use MythTV before this change, your
preferred method would be frustrating. Suppose I have a recording
highlighted and I want to access its menu. Logically, I'll hit the
MENU button. But then the Group Menu pops up! What? Oh, I need to hit
the INFO button to see the menu, not the MENU button.

I'd summarize the two alternatives like this:

1) Press MENU over widget A to see widget A's menu. Press MENU over
   widget B to see widget B's menu.
2) Press MENU no matter where you are to see widget A's menu. Press
   INFO no matter where you are to see widget B's menu.

Do you really consider (1) the illogical one? If so, I think you're
confusing "illogical" with "inconvenient given my usage patterns".

Maybe your argument is that the Series (Group) Menu is really a screen
global menu, not specific to the Series (Group) List. I wouldn't agree
with that, though, because its title is "Group List Menu", and all but
one of its entries refer to groups. (The Help (Status Icons) entry
belongs in the Recording Menu IMO.)


> > Mike's description of the old method (INFO shows info *and* a context
> > menu) is what sounds illogical to me. I don't think the analogy to
> > left and right mouse buttons is apt, because the remotes don't say
> > left-click/right-click, they say Menu/Info.
> 
> 
> I have never, ever, pressed the Info button and wanted the "Info" display -
> frankly, it's something I use so infrequently that I'd rather it was only a
> menu item on the "Info Menu", i.e. the menu you used to get when you hit
> Info.

I access the recording Info screen much more often than I access the
Group Menu. We all have our different usage patterns.